Friday, February 27, 2009

Close-Ups Done Right

"Some people think close-ups abstract the actors out of the reality of the set and push them into a floating world. But I actually think that is only true if there's not enough going on in the eyes, enough intimacy going on that you're forced to watch the eyes. If you're listening to the voice, you get pushed into that floating world, that you don't know where you where you are and it feels oppressive. And it's uh, it's a kind of indication of the ways our lives have gone with intimacy and the lack of it that we're scared of close-ups. And I mean the original close-up was so powerful, which was our mother looking at us as we breast-fed or something. So it's such a powerful mechanism that it's to be used, I suppose, sparingly." (Jim Sheridan, In America director's commentary, out on DVD 8/31/04)


The Hans Zimmer score of Frost/Nixon (four stars total) sounds like the composer's other work this year in The Dark Knight, and the other similarity there is that both films featured likable villains. Much as you can still appreciate the Joker through grunts and lip-licking, Frank Langella talks like he has oatmeal in his mouth and still comes off as a sympathetic Richard Nixon. That's impressive. David Frost, played by Michael Sheen (The Queen, the Underworld series), reminded me at first of Ricky Gervais, who I can't appreciate, but then the proud little peacock grew on me. By the time Nixon stunned him into looking like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming vehicle, my heart was beating faster than it ever did in The Dark Knight. That's impressive too. It's the first lengthy close-up of someone staring off into space, but it's not the big one. Frost gets his revenge with the closest possible thing to an apology from the former president, but it's not done vengefully. The film's surprising (to me) climax is both compassionate and competitive. It's intimate, and not just because it uses a close-up. I think people assume that the big screen should be reserved for big, panoramic views and close-ups should be left to daytime television, but when done the right way, close-ups can be just as spacious and breathtaking. Speaking of television, I learned that it was not only Nixon's final defeat (because of these interviews), but it had been the cause of his initial defeat against Kennedy. I also learned that Diane Sawyer worked for Nixon and there is an interesting parallel between Cambodia back then and weapons of mass destruction today. I can't understand why the filmmakers chose to mix real news footage with pretend interviews, but that's my only complaint. My personal reasons for being able to enjoy a film so much about talking heads is that I have a history of high school debate and I, like Frost, am a procrastinator. I also get stage fright more after the fact than before like Frost does in the film and I loved the scene right after the climax with him alone in the car. Last but not least, I appreciated hearing the song "I Feel Love" out of all the songs they could have chosen from 1977 for the reasons in my 8/26/08 post.

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Popcorn Flick Meets UNICEF Commercial

"I know some people don't like the film for very complicated reasons, and some people adore it for very simple reasons. I'm very, very proud to have achieved that." (Best Director winner Danny Boyle, Time, March 2, 2009)

"In addition, non-American writers are the perfect surface upon which to project our desire for the style and persona we associate with old-fashioned greatness. One hesitates to invoke the dread word "colonialism" here, but sometimes you've got to call a Mayflower a Mayflower. How else, really, to explain the reverse condescension that allows us to applaud pompous nonsense in the work of a Polish poet that would be rightly skewered if it came from an American?" (David Orr, The New York Times Book Review, February 22, 2009)


Slumdog Millionaire (three and a half stars total) asks the question: would Pretty Woman have been any more realistic if Richard Gere had met Julia Roberts as a child, before getting separated from her for many years, and they reunited before he got rich? Little kids playing cricket and pickpocketing at the Taj Mahal may have a new setting for their fairy tale, but that doesn't move the 2009 Best Picture any closer to real life. I personally don't care if Bollywood is melodramatic and full of music, I just wish the Oscar-winning music in Slumdog had sounded less like that of a cheesy Hollywood action/comedy/romance popcorn flick. I love M.I.A. (you can find "Paper Planes" on "My Top Twenty Songs of the Last Two Years" post from 9/9/08), but here she was too distracting from what she accompanied on the screen. It reminded me of the music from another Best Picture winner, Crash. I enjoyed everything about that film except for the wannabe controversial Arabic Raï style in the music. It didn't fit. There, I said it. The world can disagree with me. And here's another unpopular opinion: I hate Who Wants To Be a Millionaire? but once again, it's because of the distracting music. Fortunately, Slumdog isn't just an extended episode of Millionaire (scenes of torture, statutory rape, and kidnapping homeless babies prevent that). Unfortunately, Jason Bateman (Hancock, Juno) did not play the film's game show host like I thought, but isn't the resemblance uncanny? I'm trying to think of other epic romances that go back to childhood, but none spring to mind at the moment. I know Slumdog's a ripoff, but of what? And I wonder how many Slumdog impersonators we'll see over the next few years. The film itself hearkens back to City of God and True Romance. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for cheesy Hollywood action/comedy/romance popcorn flicks where the good guys are good and the bad guys are bad, I just felt like Slumdog was trying too hard to be that plus something else, and the tug of war wore me out. Anyway, the film does ask some important questions, like how many rings do you have your cell phone set to before it kicks to voicemail? You never know when someone may call you to be their lifeline, but it will probably happen when you've left your phone in the car.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Human Interest Story


The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (five stars total) is the first five star film that I've reviewed here. That's not to say it's the first five star film I've seen, but it is just as complex, dark, haunting, thrilling and well-crafted as The Dark Knight, which was the last five star film I saw. Granted, Brad Pitt is my favorite character actor next to Johnny Depp, but I've never much cared for Cate Blanchett's performances, and I loved her here. My favorite things in film are cutaways and inserts, especially when they're comical and/or surreal. The guy being struck by lightning seven times counts for both. I walked in late to the screening, started up the stairs for the stadium seating, and had to sit down on the top step because I couldn't see in the dark to find a seat. A guy on the aisle moved over and whispered for me to sit next to him. I'll agree, there's nothing spectacular or halfway provocative about that story, but I share it here because it sums up my experience with Button. It's all about humanity and subtlety. Theatrical trailers tried to make the film look like another special effects vehicle, but there's nothing spectacular aside from the how obvious and practical it is. Fans of David Fincher's past work in Se7en and Fight Club tried to make the film sound like another scarring and shadowy work by the director, but there's nothing provocative about all the death aside from how natural and ordinary it is. The story is simple yet thoughtful. I heard someone complaining afterwards about the length, but I appreciated the time to think. Consider the parallels between youth and old age, what turns a boy into a man, and being able to tell exactly how many years you have left to live (barring accidental death or terminal disease). The music score reminded me of the Bach piece above, which I first heard on the trailer for a Robert Downey Jr./Jamie Foxx film, The Soloist (out in April). The soundtrack goes from Scott Joplin to Louis Armstrong and The Platters to The Beatles. If I could only recommend the film for one reason, it surprisingly would not be for my favorite editing technique, or the Oscar-winning special effects, not even the music. It would be for the emotion. I had one of those cries that clenches your stomach and makes your face feel weightless from draining tears. There's real sadness in the film, but it's not depressing or sappy. It's unfortunate that I missed the beginning, so could someone please explain the clock to me?

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

The Year That I Was Born...

...was the year that Ted Bundy was captured, the "Son of Sam" went to prison, Jim Jones led his cult to mass murder-suicide, John Wayne Gacy's confession surprised the entire city of Chicago, and San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and City Supervisor Harvey Milk were assassinated by former Supervisor Dan "Twinkie Defense" White, which led to Dianne Weinstein becoming the first woman mayor.


Milk (four and a half stars total) In addition to being a year for psycho killers, 1978 was also the height of disco. I have long wanted to write a post about the difference between funk and disco, and Milk has given me that chance. You see, towards the beginning of the film, "Rock the Boat" by the Hues Corporation is played, and that song is in competition with "Love's Theme" by Barry White, for the title of of first disco song ever. The Hues Corporation did some songs for the film, Blacula, a couple years before that. Now Blacula may bring to mind more funk than disco for you, so it begs the question: where do you draw the fine line between the two musical genres? When my brother first played his Pure Funk CD for me, I thought: "this is all just disco." Turns out, the CD and I were both right. There's overlap, and here are my lists:

Similarities
-complex grooves
-danceable rhythms
-funky guitar - wah-wah sound and muting the notes
-riffs create a percussive sound
-sampled by hip hop

Differences
-funk had no look (at least before P-Funk and Prince) but disco did
-funk often used a single chord while disco uses several
-funk consisted of a small four-piece band whereas
disco used full orchestras for a large (lush) pop (white) sound
-funk stayed guitar-based (through the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Living Colour, Primus, and Rage Against the Machine) and disco went electronic (through Giorgio Moroder with Donna Summer, Michael Jackson, Jamiroquai, and Hercules and Love Affair)

Going back to the film, the best part is all the cultural history - that so much of it was a reaction to the hippie movement of the previous decade (changing neighborhoods, shortening hair, wearing suits). The worst part of the film is people wearing white socks with black slacks and shoes, but wouldn't it be great if the worst things about all films were such minor things? Going back to the original meaning of the word "gay," this film is FULL (as in filling entire city blocks) of the happiest people ever to march, sometimes with nothing to celebrate. At one point a rival candidate tells Milk, "in this town, you've got to give them a reason for optimism or you're cooked." From then on, the film is one of the most stirring and hopeful that I've seen. There's some great cinematography, including the opening kiss scene with a "We Are Open" store sign in the window, the hairstyles, aerial shots a cloudy San Francisco, and the last thing that Milk supposedly sees after being shot in slow motion. The editing includes actual news footage with Anita Bryant and a very young Tom Brokaw and a fab '70s multi-split screen. I already touched on the music above, but I must mention all the opera played, including the performance of Tosca. The film is impossible to discuss without getting political, but I'll try to stick to some universal themes. It made me realize that I disagree with people who can't share their partners with a good cause and I don't trust people that can say "I love you" the first day you meet them. Despite what I heard, this film doesn't show faults like Ray did, but I've never seen another film that deals so well with the arrogance and contradictory selfishness of both suicide and politics.

OUT TODAY ON DVD: WHAT JUST HAPPENED

Monday, February 23, 2009

Loserfest

The 2009 Oscar winners were announced last night and they were both predictable in a good way and unpretentious in a bad way. I still say that The Dark Knight got snubbed for Best Picture. With that out of the way, I would have given the award to any other nominee than Slumdog Millionaire, but more on that later. I expected all the winners for Best Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor, and Actress, and I don't disagree with any of them. Best Makeup and Visual Effects both went to The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and rightly so, since it wasn't given Best Picture or Adapted Screenplay. I'll accept WALL-E for Best Animated Feature because there was no chance for Kung Fu Panda, but The Dark Knight just for Best Sound Editing??? Anyway, I attended what appears to be the third annual AMC Best Picture Showcase and I watched everything except for The Reader. People clapped enthusiastically after each screening. We even sang "Happy Birthday" to someone in the audience like you would at a chain restaurant. The order of the films was interesting in that the two fantasies were bookended by reality.

Some of you may be wondering how I could sit through four movies in a row. Technically, I only sat through three in a row, because I left for a few hours after the first screening. And it's not the first time I've engaged in such extreme filmgoing. When I was in high school, my friend and I held what we called a "Loserfest." We rented five videos and watched them back to back all night until the sun came up the next day. I don't remember what we rented, just that we saved Rudy for last and it put me to sleep so I missed what might have been my first sunrise after an all-nighter. In college, I once watched three movies in a row at the dollar theater: Bandits, Domestic Disturbance, and Shallow Hal. Shortly after I married my wife, I learned that she had never seen the whole Star Wars original trilogy, so one Sunday afternoon we did a marathon. Believe it or not, I had never seen a single Star Trek movie up until a couple years ago. The Thanksgiving weekend before last, I tried watching all nine movies in the series and my wife has yet to forgive me. So I'm grateful she let me attend the AMC event, because unlike the Star Trek movies, I feel like I was a better person for having watched this year's Best Picture nominees.

Hand-Me-Down Book Reviews

These are some titles from this week's New York Times Book Review section that I'd like to read at some point:

Fiction

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao - Junot Diaz; "A nerdy Dominican-American struggles to escape a family curse"

Drood - Dan Simmons; "What if the scariest story ever told turned out to be real?"

The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman; "This year's Newbery Medal-winner is about a boy who is raised by ghosts in a cemetery"

A Thousand Splendid Suns - Khaled Hosseini; "A friendship between two Afghan women against the backdrop of 30 years of war"

Non-Fiction

Beyond the Revolution: A History of American Thought From Paine to Pragmatism - William H Goetzmann

The Lost Art of Walking: The History, Science, Philosophy, and Literature of Pedestrianism - Geoff Nicholson

The Omnivore's Dilemma - Michael Pollan; "Tracking food from soil to plate"

Revolution in Mind: The Creation of Psychoanalysis - George Makari; "maps out the Freud family tree with all its thorny branches, its disciples and dissenters"

The Tipping Point - Malcolm Gladwell; "A study of social epidemics, otherwise known as fads"

Friday, February 20, 2009

Join My Book Club

I work with a woman who is a voracious reader. Why is it that people always use the word "voracious" in conjunction with readers? Anyway, I asked her what her favorite book was, and she said A Prayer for Owen Meany, by John Irving (1989). While I was discussing it with her in the break room, another woman at work came in, told us that was one of her favorite books too, and asked if we had read The Kite Runner, by Khaled Hosseini (2003). I made that my second reading assignment, and then I was on a roll. My voracious reading buddy made me a list of her recommended reading with multiple books from 20 different authors (see below). So far, I've only read two on the list, but a friend from outside of work loaned me a copy of The Life of Pi, by Yann Martel (2001), which I started a while back and should really finish now.

Aubert, Brigitte - La Mort des neiges (Death from the Woods)
Enger, Leif - Peace Like a River
Frey, James - A Million Little Pieces
Haruf, Kent - Eventide and Plain Song
Hickman, Homer - October Sky (adapted for film in 1999)
Hornby, Nick - About a Boy (adapted for film in 2002)
Hyde, Catherine Ryan - Pay It Forward (adapted for film in 2000)
King, Stephen - Hearts in Atlantis (adapted for film in 2001) and On Writing (which I've read)
Lamb, Wally - I Know This Much to Be True
Larson, Erik - Devil in the White City
Martez, Yann - The Life of Pi
McEwan, Ian - Amsterdam and The Sea
McLarty, Ron - The Memory of Running
McMurty, Larry - The Last Picture Show (adapted for film in 1971) and Lonesome Dove (adapted for TV in 1989)
Moore, Christopher - Fluke
Price, Reynolds - Noble Norfleet
Proulx, E. Annie - The Shipping News (adapted for film in 2001)
Russo, Richard - Empire Falls (which I've read) and Straight Man
Sherwood, Ben - The Man Who Ate the 747
Shields, Carol - Unless

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Unsolicited Advice

"For whom, it suddenly occurred to him to wonder, was he writing this diary? . . . How could you communicate with the future? It was of its nature impossible. Either the future would resemble the present in which case it would not listen to him, or it would be different from it, and his predicament would be meaningless." (George Orwell, 1984, 1949)

My brothers and I received hardcover journals for Christmas one year as kids, so my first-ever entry probably didn't amount to more than a list of the other presents I got that day. I kept a pretty good journal through junior high, then in high school I switched to calendar pages. I would write just a few words describing the most interesting thing I did for each day inside the little box on the calendar page. In college, I switched from big, wall-hanging calendars to day planner calendars. I keep those calendar pages in my three-ring photo album binders. While looking at photos for my recent review of the 2000s, I noticed that my calendar entries stopped the year I moved to San Diego. Before I stopped doing them though, I apparently added a new feature in the notes column at the end of each week on the planner calendar. I included a few words on a superficial lesson I had learned that week, like unsolicited advice for future generations flipping through my photo albums. Here is my advice to myself from the first full month I lived in San Diego:

August 1-7, 2004 "Send postcards to old friends to inform them of the move."

August 8-14, 2004 "Don't buy anything you can check out at the library."

August 15-21, 2004 "The point of living near the beach is to hang out at the beach."

August 22-28, 2004 "Going #2 every morning counts on Sundays too."

August 29-September 4, 2004 "Remember people's names."

My advice for this week? Don't wear pants with holes in the crotch because if you pass out or have a heart attack, everyone will see.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Comic Book Neophilia

"No! No, freakin' kids. I do not need this, I've got a masters degree in folklore mythology." (Comic Book Guy's first appearance, The Simpsons, Season Two, Episode 21)

My first San Diego Comic-Con in 2004 was its 35th anniversay. I've returned every year since, and so have a lot of ongoing panels, a few of which I've followed since their inception. One panel which I'm sure was distinct and unprecedented in 2004 was "Comics to Go: A New Publishing Medium on Mobile Phones." In 2005 there was "Comic Book Weblogs" ("the fanzines of this century and a new form of instant communication") and in 2006 there was "Comics Podcasting," which featured TEN panelists: Josh Flanagan (iFanboy.com), Bryan Deemer (Comic Geek Speak), Scott Hinze (Fanboy Radio), Lene Taylor (I Read Comics), Joe Gonzalez (Comic News Insider), John Siuntres (Word Balloon), Chris Marshall (Collected Comics Library), Charly La Greca (Indie Spinner Rack), Jose Brito (Los Comic Geekos), and Augie de Blieck Jr. (Comic Book Resources Pipeline).

Last year, all of the above doubled. "UClick: Mobile Comics," presented by GoComics, was joined by "Clickwheel: On-Demand Digital Comics for iPod and iPhone." There were two different panels for live podcasts, "Geek Roundtable Live" and "How to Make Webcomics: Live!" And those were separate from "The Third Annual Comics Podcasting Panel" and "The Comics Blogosphere," which featured David Brothers (4thletter!), Jeff Lester (The Savage Critic(s)), Laura Hudson (Myriad Issues), Tim Robins (Mindless Ones), and moderator Douglas Wolk (Reading Comics). I'm afraid I didn't attend any of these panels. I was still reading comics and comics news the old-fashioned way. It would appear that I was three years behind on both blogging and podcasting, as far as they were each panel material for Comic-Con. If not for an article in the last issue of Comics Now! magazine, I might have continued to ignore how prolific podcasting has become. This year I'm going to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Comic-Con by searching out a panel on some new trend that I can then brag about attending in three years when I realize I'm behind on something else.

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Precursor to the Modern Slasher Film

"Ten little Soldier boys went out to dine;
One choked his little self and then there were nine.
Nine little Soldier boys sat up very late;
One overslept himself and then there were eight.
Eight little Soldier boys traveling in Devon;
One said he'd stay there and then there were seven.
Seven little Soldier boys chopping up sticks;
One chopped himself in halves and then there were six.
Six little Soldier boys playing with a hive;
A bumblebee stung one and then there were five.
Five little Soldier boys going in for law;
One got into Chancery and then there were four.
Four little Soldier boys going out to sea;
A red herring swallowed one and then there were three.
Three little Soldier boys walking in the zoo;
A big bear hugged one and then there were two.
Two little Soldier boys playing with a gun;
One shot the other and then there was One.
One little Soldier boy left all alone;
He went out and hanged himself and then there were none."

And Then There Were None (three and a half stars total) There is a character in Friday the 13th (the original) that is named after Agatha Christie and her all-time best-selling mystery novel, And Then There Were None (1940; adapted 13 times as a movie or on TV). The first big screen adaptation (1945) just happened to be the next DVD on my online rental queue, so it was the first movie I saw after watching the new remake of Friday the 13th. It's a proto-slasher film because it features a multitude of characters of different stereotypes, all stranded in an exotic location (a desert island as opposed to a campground in the woods), who die one at a time by various, creative means. The killer is always present (either lurking unseen or unrevealed till the end) and only strikes when someone leaves the group and goes off alone. There's even a modus operandi or calling card, as the killer sets up each death to match the ones in the above poem, Ten Little Indians. In the book, everyone dies but they spared two characters in the movie for that "Hollywood ending." I became really engrossed in the intricate plot, the new surprise ending seems preferable to the original, and the most annoying character was the first to die, so all in all, a highly recommended movie (if you don't mind black and white). Here are some newer, color, "killer" movies (and B-movies that I've been thinking about lately):

1. Black Christmas (1974) technically, the first suburban slasher film (released the same year as the "rural slasher" Texas Chainsaw Massacre and four years before the original Halloween), directed by the guy that did A Christmas Story; and featuring the scariest eye through the peephole reference to And Then There Were None

2. April Fool's Day (1986) one of the best slasher films I've seen, which follows And There Were None's plot pretty closely

3. Dr. Otto and the Riddle of The Gloom Beam (1986) not a slasher film, but still dark comedy about a guy from a bad childhood who wants to kill everyone; who says Jim Varney only makes Ernest movies?

4. Summer School (1987) not a slasher movie either, but has a great homage to '80s gore makeup artists à la Friday the 13th

5. Cry_Wolf (2005) the best recent slasher movie I've seen, with only two kills and a PG-13 rating

OUT TODAY ON DVD: CHOKE & HOW TO LOSE FRIENDS & ALIENATE PEOPLE

Monday, February 16, 2009

My Movie Pitches

"Moviegoing is exactly what separates the audience from the Academy. You, dear ordinary cinephile, go to a theater and sit in a big room with a big screen on which, you hope, big things will happen. Those things are called movies. But the Academy balloters, by and large, aren't true moviegoers; the movies come to them, on DVD screeners. When the members, many of whom are on the set for 12 or 14 hours a day, do their Oscar homework, they want a retreat from the pyrotechnics they've been creating. They want dramas that are important yet intimate, stressing method and message. Those things are called TV shows." (Richard Corliss, Time, February 23, 2009)

While on the subject of the Academy, AMC Theatres are doing a "Best Picture Showcase" for 2009 Oscar nominees. Select locations will screen five nominated films and throw in a large popcorn and unlimited drink refills for only $30. I've got my ticket for this Saturday, but I may not make it to every movie. No matter what, expect some artsy-fartsy reviews next week from me next week. Back to the quote now, I found it interesting to consider that everyone goes to the movies to escape, whether that's little movies with big ideas for the industry insiders, or big movies with little ideas for the rest of us. I'm mostly kidding, but there is some truth there. It got me thinking about what kind of movie I would want to see, if I could see anything imaginable right this moment - no work on my part, other than to sit and enjoy the final product of the idea in my head. If you could magically create your own movie, with whatever budget, director, setting, stars, and storyline you wanted, what would your movie be? I'll tell you five of mine, but before you laugh all the way to the bank because you stole my priceless ideas, I just want to say that it's okay. Anyone who has the connections to get these movies made should do so, because I'd really like to see them, but without any legwork or phone calls of my own. I'm not interested in writing scripts for any the following either:

1. 28 Days Later... (2002) meets Braveheart (1995) - a Medieval zombie plague just seems like a natural fit when you consider that Braveheart's William Wallace (1270-1305) lived around the same time as the Black Death (1340s); only my movie would be entirely classical languages, like Apocalypto (honestly, do you really need to understand what Celts are saying when they're chopping the undead up into pieces?)

2. Dracula (1897) meets Glory (1989) - I've long had a "weird West" idea about gold diggers making a stop in an old fronteir town full of vampires (I know, it's been done to death; pun intended), but then I realized that the Bram Stoker book was originally published not too long after the American Civil War (1861-1865), and actually just a year after the Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) "separate but equal" court case; vampires in the movies haven't been taken seriously since Blackula (1972), but my movie could avenge all that with the tragic romance of an ancient Egyptian (black) vampire who comes to the New World and finds his long-lost bride in the Old South

3. Conan (1932) meets Encino Man (1992) - my fascination with alternative histories for pop culture characters goes back to my first childhood idea for a movie; I imagined a barbarian warrior named Carnaval (fifteen years before I learned Portuguese in Brazil) who wore a tall hat made of wooly mammoth fur with a flat top and bones protruding from the sides like the bolts in Frankenstein's neck; he also had two long fangs like a saber-toothed tiger; he was frozen in ice and then thawed in the present day to became a sort of rogue superhero, hiding in city sewers like TV's Beauty and the Beast (1987) or the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1984) but coming out at night to battle evildoers

4. McDonaldland: The Movie - my other childhood dream for a movie involved Ronald McDonald, Grimace, Hamburglar, Birdie the Early Bird, and the Fry Guys in a land with "thick shake volcanoes, apple pie trees and the Filet-O-Fish Lake" (Wikipedia); evidently there was a "1999 McDonaldland VHS entitled Have Time, Will Travel" that you probably bought with a Happy Meal but it must not have sold well enough to warrant a feature-length big screen adaptation

5. With the recent success of Into the Wild (2007) and Wendy and Lucy (2008), my latest idea for a movie (while a rip-off) is about a Brown or Dartmouth grad who wanted to go into advertising, but then puts a twist on the old summer hike across Europe by walking home to California, completely off the grid and avoiding any form of advertising along the way; think Homeward Bound (1993) meets Sweet November (2001), but without talking animals or romance (sound boring enough?)

Saturday, February 14, 2009

My History with Plaid Shirts

People who went to school with me may recognize the plaid shirt I'm wearing in this picture. It kick started my thing for plaid, and set the bar for at least five colors in every pattern I own. It all goes back to the CCS free catalogs I used to get in the mail in junior high. They featured a lot of flannel button-downs for skaters who were either riffing on the preppy look or being influenced by SoCal cholos (lowriders). I tried to cop the style without buying the brand names. I went to K-Mart for cheap plaid shirts and khaki pants, but when I wore them to school, people told me I was dressed like an old man. Maybe I should have gone baggier, but it was obvious I didn't look like a skater, a prep, or a cholo. Rather than start over shopping for clothes, I decided to run with it - my new "old man style." I started wearing plaid shirts everyday, I raided my dad's closet for jackets, and I asked for thick, wool, plaid ties as gifts. Later on, I started wearing mismatched socks with brown saddle shoes and flat/paddy caps. To this day, people at work still expect to see me come in every day in a plaid shirt, and when I deviate, I hear about it immediately. I could be known best as the guy with two different-colored eyes, but I prefer to be known for something that I have some say in.

Friday, February 13, 2009

Friday the 13th Times Three This Year

There will be another Friday the 13th next month and then again in November. "The fear of Friday the 13th is called paraskavedekatriaphobia" (Wikipedia). The Friday the 13th movie remake released today could be considered the 13th in the series, if you count Freddy vs. Jason and a fan film, Cold Heart of Crystal Lake (both from 2003). Below is a list of all the winks and nods in the remake to the '80s movies in the series:

1. Friday the 13th (1980) the "ki ki ki ma ma ma" echo reverberation music is used before the opening and end credits; there's a black and white flashback of Pamela Voorhees' decapitation during the opening credits; Jason jumps up from the lake at the end; people get killed with arrows

2. Friday the 13th Part 2 (1981) a FAST Jason with a sack on his head hangs around the rundown Camp Crystal Lake with a candlelit shrine to his mother and a Pamela Voorhees look-alike teenage girl shows up; a campfire scary story reveals the origin of Jason; he crashes through a window to grab someone; wheelchair

3. Friday the 13th Part III (in 3D, 1982) a BIG Jason gets the hockey mask; he's unmasked at the end; he's hung by a noose in a red barn

4. Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter (1984) "Clay comes to Crystal Lake searching for his sister just as Rob did; Jason tilts his head when someone says his name" (IMDb FAQ)

5. Friday the 13th: A New Beginning (1985) a silhouette of Jason standing in a barn door; a sheriff comes too late to help

6. Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives (1986) a motorboat hits someone in the head; Jason pulled down with a chain around his neck; he's buried(?) at the bottom of the lake

7. Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood (1988) death by sleeping bag

8. Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan (1989) Jason as a child

Friday the 13th '09 (one and a half stars total) As you can see above, the new remake does a lot to reverence the overall series. It's by the same producers that remade Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) and The Hitcher (1986), and are remaking The Last House on the Left (1972). Nothing is taken away, and the only things added are stoner humor (none of it funny) and a "realistic" explanation (unintentionally funny) for how Jason could live half his life in the woods and never be discovered. It turns out that Camp Crystal Lake is built on top of old abandoned mining tunnels and Jason has spent much of time hidden underground. This is unlike me to say, but I wish they would have continued improving upon the realism by having the sheriff turn out to be Jason's (never revealed) father, who has been secretly covering up the crimes and keeping the media at bay. Perhaps that would have been a rip-off of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake. What I'm about to say will reveal me for the non-European art critic that I am, but here it goes: The worst part of the movie was the nudity. I know sex sells, but what does it have to do horror?

Thursday, February 12, 2009

I Apologize for Promoting Snark

"That Weinberg could make a rebuke seem like a compliment is testament to his sociological position . . . Truthtelling is easier from a position of cultural distance." (Malcolm Gladwell, The New Yorker, Nov. 10, 2008)

"Anyone who speaks of grace - so spiritual a word - in conjunction with our raucous culture risks sounding like a genteel idiot, so I had better say right away that I'm all in favor of nasty comedy, incessant profanity, trash talk, any kind of satire, and certain kinds of invective . . . I don't want to get caught in a thicket of definitions, so let me lay about quickly and brutally. Satire is always critical, directly or indirectly, of manners, vices, attitudes, persons, social types, or conditions. The satirist is enraged by what others accept. At its greatest, most powerful, and most dangerous, satire makes use of a double edged sword - the devious and aggressive weapon of irony. The satirist practicing irony appears to praise the very thing he loathes. He exaggerates its features, and the terms of his praise give the show away. He tells truths in the form of lies . . . In an earlier period, we though that in the free market of ideas and language, the best and most truthful expression would win out and the rest would be forgotten. Now, I'm not so sure." (David Denby, Snark: A Polemic in Seven Fits, pgs. 1, 29, & 88)

Exactly one month ago, I posted that I had a forthcoming review of the book that the second quote above comes from. I just barely got to it this week and I kept a list of every word the author used to describe snark (here are the first 50): "nasty, knowing, low, teasing, snide, condescending, ridicule, ill will, prejudice, lazy, group mentality, contempt, bullying, easy, parasitic, referential, insinuating, debilitating, sarcastic, hostile, mediocrity, conformity, malice, natural, bilious, snarling, resentful, annihilating, anonymity, gossipy, desperate, limited, creepy, biting, trivial, cynicism, cruelty, sinister, destructive, dismissal, smearing, derisive, insolent, sneaky, unpleasant, crass, spiteful, negative, undermining, (and to sum it all up, an) insult." NONE of those things are what I intended my blog's name to mean, and I would hope that none of these descriptions apply (save for the one in bold). If you ever find my blog to be any of these 50 words, PLEASE LET ME KNOW.

In my header, I used to include the Urban Dictionary definition of the word snark, which is simply "a combination of the words snide and remark." One of Webster's definitions for snide is "unworthy of esteem," and that matches my original understanding of snark as throwaway criticism or "nitpicking," which was the popular meaning during the late 19th century. Even less offensive is Lewis Carroll's definition from his 1876 poem, "The Hunting of the Snark: An Agony, in Eight Fits," where it's just a nonsense word from "the comination of snail and shark." Imagine such an animal - slow-moving, hard on the outside and soft on the inside, all fangs but no flippers. I never meant "I Wear My Snark Upon My Sleeve" to mean anything more than "I make fun of the things I love the most." And here's why:

The first time I consciously remember coming across the term snark was on the Comics Worth Reading website. The author of that used to do what was essentially a monthly blog post on new comics as presented in the Previews catalog. On the left column she included pictures of the books she reviewed. The middle column included the books she was spotlighting with praise. The right column was entitled "Snarky Comments" directed mostly at bad marketing moves, since the nagging referred just to the ads in the Previews catalog and not the books themselves. She never directly criticized the creators that I can remember. It was in all good taste and primarily to vent about mismanagement of an industry THAT SHE LOVES. I printed some of her "Snarky Comments" (which technically would be a redundant term, like "snide remark remark") from October 2004 and I keep them in my "Comics" file folder in "the box" (see my 9/11/08 post). Here are some of her examples:

Regarding the indie press
"ADV films is plugging More Starlight to Your Heart as "finally, a manga for girls!" Where have they been over the past year? There's plenty of manga for girls out there. Or are they referring to fixing a gap in their product line? . . . I like their quick genre descriptions - this book's "action horror," that one is "light-hearted fantasy" - but someone go a little weird at some point. Are there really so many titles in the category that "robot super maids" should be considered a genre? How many examples of "wacky Satanic comedy" can there be?"

Regarding DC Comics
"During the Batman crossover "War Games," I quickly determined that I could easily and enjoyably skip all of the associated books. Now the event is over... and browsing through the creators, characters, and descriptions, it looks like I'll be happier continuing in that fashion. Thanks for saving me time and money, DC! . . . How's this for promotion? "It's the beginning of a year of hell for Hawkman." It sounds as though they've decided that no one really likes the character, so maybe the book will sell better if they go for the sadistic sales pitch. "Watch us put our character through the wringer!"

Regarding Marvel Comics
"Marvel's getting into the old argument, "Any true X-fan will enjoy" the three issues of Exiles they're putting out this month. So if you don't like seeing mutants play swords and sorcery, you're not a REAL fan. Marvel says so . . . And I haven't even mentioned the aborted "take half your Ultimates 2 issues in black and white" marketing stunt yet. All of this adds up to a paternalistic attitude towards retailers and customers that grates. It's old-fashioned to believe that the publisher really has anyone's best interests at heart but its own. Look at how they're trying to flood the market with unwanted X-books and supposed Avengers tie-ins that aren't and office scrapings published as Director's Cut editions. Now they're even selling unfinished marketing material as the $4 Young Guns 2004 Sketchbook."

Too "insidery?" I will grant that most snark is, but I don't think the quotes above are purposefully exclusive to comic book "outsiders." Passionate, yes. Conservative, no. Hopeful for change, yes. Jealous of those in power, no. My mom used to ask my brothers and I if we were "builders or bashers." If author David Denby is right about snark never building anything, then I'm changing my blog's name to "Wear Your Weight Well" (which is my favorite compliment that isn't really a compliment, but also refers to puffed up opinions like my own). I just removed the "worst" lists I used to have at the bottom right. I'm going to try to focus on the positive.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Tyler Perry: Critic-Proof?

"When you get down to it, Perry’s actors and characters may be African American, but his stories are about family and spirituality – concepts that know no racial borders. We may criticize his cinematography or weak stories, but I’ll always respect his selection of themes as long as he stays true to them. Give me the weak but heartfelt Madea’s Family Reunion over the more popular but less substantial White Chicks any day. It’s movies like his that will be remembered in fifty years, simply because they are so universal. Even if the specific intent of Perry’s films isn’t to bridge any racial gaps (or gender gaps), the themes he touches on transcend.

I guess it’s because of that universality that I’m so disappointed when Perry’s faithful fans start throwing around race as a factor when reviews aren’t positive. Here you have a potentially brilliant filmmaker making movies that appeal to a wide spectrum, and any criticism of his filmmaking suddenly becomes a racial epithet. What good are movies that cross those borders if the people enjoying the films just draw those borders back again?

The truth is, the Perry faithful shouldn’t be so concerned with what critics say about the filmmaker’s movies. After all, Perry isn’t, and neither are the big studios. Lionsgate doesn’t offer advanced screenings for most Tyler Perry movies for critics. For a refreshing change, it’s not because they’re worried about what critics might say, but instead because they realize it doesn’t matter. Tyler Perry is critic-proof, a rare position for a filmmaker, and even more rare for one that Hollywood hasn’t fully embraced. His movies appeal to a niche audience that critics won’t be able to put off – an audience I consider myself a part of, even if I often find myself appreciating his movies more for their intent than their execution." (Rafe Telsch, "Racism, Hollywood, and Tyler Perry," 10/17/07)

Aside from overwhelming praise by my coworkers, the only thing that led me to watch Tyler Perry's The Family That Preys (two stars total) was Kathy Bates. It's not the first time that a Tyler Perry movie has had a white character, but it's the first time it's had a big name white actress. Unfortunately her talent was wasted. Her character had no arc, but neither did anyone else's. No drive-by baptism or surprise ending changed anyone. There just isn't anyone to like or root for, although I did admit to my coworker that Alfre Woodard's character was good-natured and gave the best speeches. But she still doesn't DO anything or affect any change. The only person who does or tries to do anything new or differently is the bad guy, who is an otherwise nice guy except to his wife and mother. It wasn't all for naught though. The sets were beautiful (more the post-Katrina New Orleans than the male strip joint) and most of the people were too (I like Tyler Perry with big hair and a beard, but not snaggle-toothed Robin Givens). The worst part was the country music. The best part was the dialogue. Here are some samples so you don't have to watch the movie:

"Be careful how you talk to strangers because you could be entertaining an angel unawares."

"You are a woman scorned without a prenupt. That is a recipe for good living."

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Difference Between Chick Flicks and Date Movies

I feel the need to apologize for referring to "chick flicks" last week in my review of He's Just Not That Into You. After watching Nights in Rodanthe, (three stars total) I was reminded that the central feature of a chick flick is neither designer clothing nor a sassy best friend, it's melodrama. A romantic comedy that appeals equally to men with profane elderly people or ugly stoners is just a "date movie." There's a reason chick flicks are synonymous with "soap operas" and "weepies" - the only laughter (if any) should come between sobbing fits. We're talking about loves lost, friendships tested, and DEATH. Aside from The Bucket List, I can't think of a "male bonding" movie to deal with disease, infidelity, poverty, racism, and DEATH, but I can think of many a "women's picture" (Fried Green Tomatoes, Waiting to Exhale, and Titanic, for starters). Guys just prefer physical struggle and intellectual intrigue to daily drama, and I don't think that infers emotional immaturity or insensitivity. Anyway, I'm a guy and I liked Nights in Rodanthe. I liked the scenery, the bird's eye cinematography, the quiet dream sequences and flashbacks, the editing and music during the hurricane. I don't think it needed a romance (which had no chemistry and came out of nowhere) but I guess there's no other way they could have explained a married woman and a relative stranger becoming pen pals. I want to like Diane Lane more than she gives me reason to and Richard Gere's fame has always puzzled me, so you know I didn't watch this movie for the acting. I'm not sure why I watched it, and little did I realize that if you've the seen the theatrical trailer, you've already watched it too (the whole movie is right there in the trailer). I'm glad I did though. The trailer doesn't ask questions about how kids process divorce, how parents process their kids wanting nothing to do with them, or how surgeons process death on the operating table. My wife hated the movie. Nights in Rodanthe helped us realize not only what a true chick flick is, but that my wife hates them. She'd prefer a date movie, or even an action movie to watching something sad, and that's part of the reason I married her (we rented Rambo: First Blood on our honeymoon).

OUT TODAY ON DVD: MIRACLE AT ST. ANNA & SOUL MEN

Monday, February 9, 2009

Different Types of Comedy

"The problem with humor these days is that you're always supposed to GET it. What's worse: If you're smart enough, even if you don't get it, you can make up elaborate reasons for why you do. You can describe a video of a German guy repeatedly plunging his head in a bucket of water as being surreal, absurd, or ironic." (Brandon Ivers, XLR8R, Jan/Feb 2009)

I've posted top ten lists for every genre of film except for comedy and drama. You'd think those would be the most obvious, but they're the hardest because they're SO broad. While there may be many different kinds of action movies and subgenres of horror and science fiction, there are even more types of comedy, and drama could include every other genre and subgenre including comedy. In the old days, it wasn't so complicated. Plays were either comedies or tragedies, and comedies were just tragedies with an extra act. Browse by genre for movies on Amazon and you'll find a list of over 40 different types of comedy, not including hybird genres like action comedy, horror comedy, sci-fi comedy, etc. I like Charlie Chaplin slapstick to Cary Grant screwball to Doris Day sex farce, so don't think me narrow-minded for only including movies from the '80s and '90s on my top ten comedy list:

1. Groundhog Day (1993) I should mention that my only criterion for this list was how hard and how often each movie makes me laugh. Groundhog Day is at the top of the list because I still laugh out loud after all the times I've seen it. There are some obvious omissions on this list which can be found on "My Favorite Teen Movies" post (10/20/08).

2. Joe Versus the Volcano (1990) My wife and I can communicate a little bit using only lines from this anarchic (also known as "wacky") comedy. The best part is that Meg Ryan plays three different characters, all funny in different ways.

3. The Chase (1994) An extremely underrated and overlooked gem starring Charlie Sheen and Kristy Swanson, which could be considered a mild comedy of manners. Southern California. Punk soundtrack from Epitaph. Parodies the O.J. Simpson freeway chase a little.

4. High Fidelity (2000) Not just for music lovers, it's a romantic comedy all about break-ups, based on a book by the same author as About a Boy and Fever Pitch (two other favorites of mine). John Cusack's Better Off Dead isn't on this list, so here's a substitute which also represents Jack Black at his funniest (and doing a surprisingly beautiful rendition of "Let's Get It On."

5. Forget Paris (1995) If you thought break-ups were funny, try childless marriage and looming divorce in Billy Crystal's situational comedy follow-up to the "boys only" City Slickers I & II. I think I first saw this around the same time as the similarly themed Bye Bye Love and Parenthood (both funny but sadder too).

6. The Addams Family (1991) If you really want to understand my sense of humor, you have to combine things that shouldn't go together, but do. For example, old fashioned family values in a haunted house full of homicidal maniacs. Sure, it's just dark comedy, but softer and sweeter (another oxymoron).

7. The 'Burbs (1989) Like a children's adventure where the children are grown men and the neighborhood bully is half as tall and actually deadly. It's interesting to note that Carrie Fisher went from Star Wars to Hannah and Her Sisters to playing Tom Hank's wife/mother figure here.

8. Ghostbusters (1984) This wraps up my trilogy of supernatural comedies, but there are a lot more where these came from, namely Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands.

9. Reality Bites (1994) Hard to believe that Ben Stiller directed this and The Cable Guy (which I still haven't seen) before going off to act in some of the worst movies I've ever seen, but there it is. He plays a Planet of the Apes-fanatical corporate zombie and Ethan Hawke a Shakespeare-quoting, Violent Femmes-singing, greasy slacker.

10. Empire Records (1995) What High Fidelity was for me in college, Empire Records was in high school. It's all about the Lucas character, but also my first exposure to Liv Tyler,
Renée Zellweger, and last but definitely not least, stoner brownies while watching Gwar vidoes.

Honorable Mentions: Friday (1995) and Office Space (1999) are two sides of the same "urban American" coin; now compare and contrast. As for this list in general, I realize that a joke's not funny if you have to explain it, and I agree with the quote above that a good joke isn't defined by what you "get."

Friday, February 6, 2009

Book Versus Movie

I did skim the book He's Just Not That Into You (three and a half stars total) when a coworker left it on her desk. The movie's better, probably longer to watch than the book is to read, but at least it's not as repetitive. And it's got a soundtrack too - Talking Heads, Lily Allen, Human League, and The Cure. My favorite part was the background clip and plot connection with one of my favorite movies of all time, Some Kind of Wonderful. The real question is whether the movie offers anything more for guys who already know everything from the book, and the answer is probably not. I still enjoyed it, but only in the same way I enjoy well-acted infomercials. The faux-testimonials after each of the movie's "chapter intros" are the funniest bits of the whole thing. As an aside, if you saw Ben Affleck in Good Will Hunting (I never can remember that title), then you know that his true strength is comedy and he should just give up drama (especially romance), except for directing things like Gone Baby Gone. Alas, his character was Mr. Mopey here.

What was most difficult for me was keeping track of all the characters (I had to make a chart while watching both versions of The Women too). I found it easiest to do this by noting who made more public displays of affection (marriage, talking on the phone, sensitivity) versus who made more private displays of affection (sex, housechores, honesty). For the record, I personally don't believe that one type of affection is more important than another, but different people prioritize differently. If it helps or at the very least entertains you, here is my official He's Just Not That Into You character breakdown: there were nine main characters, four men and five women, but we'll cut Drew Barrymore because her character doesn't do anything, which leaves us with an even eight. I divided the remaining characters into four groups of two people each (if you want to draw your own table, it's just a square with two columns and two rows). I put the men on the left column and the women on the right column, those who emphasized public displays of affection on the top row and those who emphasized private displays of affection on the bottom. If I've lost you by this point, you can appreciate how most guys feel trying to make logical sense of most chick flicks. It's funny (and not just for the obvious "I made a nerdy chart" reason) to note that none of the characters in the same axis really interact with each other, only with people in others.

Axis I: Men in Public
Kevin Connolly - the real estate agent; calls girls he's into and/or tries to move in with them
Bradley Cooper - the cheater; all ulterior motives

Axis II: Women in Public
Jennifer Aniston - suppresses what she wants for herself
Jennifer Connelly - never questions what her partner really wants

Axis III: Men in Private
Ben Affleck - won't settle down, but will listen when spoken to and do the dishes
Justin Long - the bartender; both the most likable and least believable character; I don't however believe that honesty and sensitivity have to be mutually exclusive

Axis IV: Women in Private
Ginnifer Goodwin - the main girl; desperate, desperate, desperate, to the point of public humiliation
Scarlett Johansson - prefers sex and honesty to respect for marriage and sensitivity, at least until the end (sorry, PLOT SPOILER)

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Original Versus Remake, Part II

To follow up on "My 2009 Online DVD Rentals Continued" post, I've made it through the Judy Holliday titles, starting with her Oscar winning performance in Born Yesterday (1950) at my parents' house over a month ago. It Should Happen to You (1954, with Jack Lemmon) was my favorite, even if her thick New York accent didn't make sense for the story. To hear her do other accents, you can watch her film adaptation of Broadway's Bells Are Ringing (1960). Unlike my last "Original Versus Remake" post, where I would've watched The Women (2008) with or without seeing the original, Born Yesterday (1993) is only interesting as a contrast to the original, and even then it's not that interesting. The bottom line is that subtlety = believability. I just couldn't buy John Goodman as a bad guy, no matter how much he yelled (I will admit it worked better for the Coen Brothers). But Don Johnson as a clean cut brainiac? Were they intentionally playing all the actors against type? While Melanie Griffith gets the accent of Judy Holliday, she talks WAY too slow for a city girl and her makeup changes more than her mental prowess over the course of the movie. The two musical montages, unique to the remake, tacked on what seemed like a half hour. If you couldn't tell, I hate musical montages. But the main difference is that Judy Holliday always played characters with street smarts who were only dumb when it came to books (yet the actress had an IQ of 172) and Melanie Griffith's version neither starts off nor leaves us with any wisdom. Born Yesterday (1950) is a dramatic character study where everyone's outside of their element. Born Yesterday (1993) is an unfunny, fish-out-of-water comedy with jarring scenes of seriousness and violence. Come to think of it, another Judy Holliday movie, The Marrying Kind (1952), had inconsistent comedic highs with tragic lows. I was shocked to learn that Judy passed away only five years after her last big screen performance, at the age of 43. If not for that, I would probably still be catching up on all her movies right now.

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Follow That Star, Part II

"We could not have existed if we were from New York or L.A. We would've been so self-conscious. People in New York wallow in their artistry. Las Vegas doesn't have that indieness. We were able to do what we wanted without worrying about being cool . . . A lot is made of the fact that I'm a Mormon. That's uncharted territory for a lot of people. They don't understand it. When I said that Paul McCartney has a God-given talent - first of all, that's just a term. But I think everyone has a gift." (lead singer of The Killers, Brandon Flowers, Spin, February 2009)

"Family films? Forget that nonsense. There are so many well-behaved people of every religion on the planet who are eager and capable of producing such films. Mormons have something different, unique, vitally important to offer. Dedicate yourselves to making substantial films of elevated craft, undeniable artistry and potent themes. In my experience, those who wave the flag of "family films" are usually those who have discovered that they lack anything valuable to say, the talent to say it, and the ability to compete in the marketplace. They are looking for a popular cause to compensate for (and to excuse) their lack of ability." (writer/director of God's Army and Brigham City, Richard Dutcher, Utah Valley's Daily Herald, 12 April 2007)

For the record, I don't even like The Killers, but I wanted to share the above quotes (which tie into each other) and I agree with the second one that most family films are lame. I realize that neither of the opinions in that statement are popular ones to have. To borrow a term from Swing Vote (two and a half stars total), I'm not trying to be a "conscious objector." I, like Kevin Costner's version of Homer Simpson in the movie, usually give the wrong answer in the least tactful way when asked for my opinion. That's why I liked Kevin Costner's character, and Swing Vote in general. Since critics and moviegoers were split on the movie, I guess that's just another unpopular opinion for me to bear. Oh well, I've liked Kevin Costner since he played a WWII cartoonist on Amazing Stories and my favorite roles of his are not the ones you're thinking of - I prefer Robin Hood and The Postman to Field of Dreams or Dances with Wolves. Swing Vote features Costner's best likable old cuss since, well, his last movie, or the one before that. See, even if The Upside of Anger or Rumor Has It... were both bad scripts, they still starred the guy that held his own with De Niro in The Untouchables and Sir Michael Gambon in Open Range. So it should be obvious that I watched Swing Vote because I like Kevin Costner, but the girl who played his daughter was good too, and then there's Kelsey Grammer, Dennis Hopper (reunited with Costner after Waterworld), Nathan Lane, Stanley Tucci, and George Lopez. That cast is worth half a yellow star at least. The script should have just focused on the father-daughter-reporter triangle though. I liked it better before the presidential candidates arrived in town (in New Mexico no less!) but the ending redeemed itself for the middle. I was so worried about how they would handle his vote, but the credits start rolling after he enters the booth. The Bud character not only shares his name with a beer, but drinks his share of it on plastic lawn furniture. He represents "America," which according to the movie, is "not highbrow, not urban" and "likes football." How do I feel about that? I don't care, I'm probably white trash myself (although I don't drink and I think football's boring). The morals to the story are to be informed, speak up for the poor and the sick, and watch your language. That's pretty good for a movie where the best scene portrays illegal immigrants filming a campaign ad against themselves for a picnic table buffet. There's more phony campaign ads where that one came from, and they're all funny and over the top. The editing is stylish aside from the the movie being too long. The soundtrack's mostly classic rock and the use of Moby balances for the Willie Nelson. If you're looking for a "family film" with loads of talent and a little something to say, uh, "this is the place."

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Songs I Discovered in 2009

"There's an interesting paradox in the consumer electronics industry. For an increasing number of music fans, the pursuit and appreciation of high-fidelity sound has diminished as technology has advanced. When I was a child, we had a 78 rpm record player. Then, in the late 1940s, my father bought a 33 rpm "high fidelity" system. The quality difference between it and our older 78 rpm system was truly amazing . . . Digital audio can sound amazingly good. Unfortunately, some of today's most popular digital sources - MP3 players, satellite radio, and Internet radio - often do not. These technologies are wonderful in many ways. But their operation typically depends on lower-resolution signals than you get with CD. Therefore, millions of young people may never have experienced true high-fidelity sound reproduction." (Bill Crutchfield, Founder and CEO, Crutchfield mail-order catalog, Winter-Spring 2009)

"A musician, however legendary, is trapped by the limitations of his instrument. But as a DJ, you have the entire history of recorded sound to play with. Unlike a band, forced to plow through you back catalog (again) through bad amplifiers, you can choose from every artist, every track, every remix ever made, and you can deliver them with clear, crisp studio perfection. You might pick the funkiest two bars of a musician's entire life and loop them as a little intro. You might take two records made thirty years apart and place them neatly side by side. You might pick the one track Supertramp made that can send a deep house crowd bonkers and happily dismiss everthing else in their entire career as pointless. We won't deny that the average musician is probably far more skilled than the average DJ, but doubtless, the DJ controls more musical power than the musician ever did." (Frank Broughton and Bill Brewster, How To DJ Right, 2002)

Just as "sound has diminished as technology has advanced," my listening tastes have paradoxically gone more downtempo while simultaneously getting edgier. Is this a sign of old age, or can I just blame it on the late night "Big Sonic Chill" program on San Diego's FM 94.9? I started listening to that show when I picked up my wife from work a few years ago, but that was also around the time one of my coworkers started preventing me from playing any music that wasn't upbeat and funky, so maybe it's all a reaction against that too. Anyway, the reason for me including the second quote above is that I think I know which Supertramp song it's referring to, and that may be "Goodbye Stranger." The following playlist is comprised of songs (in alphabetical order) that I bought with an iTunes gift card I got for Christmas. Most of it might qualify as big, sonic, and/or chill. These songs are the ABSOLUTE best songs I have come across in the last couple of months. I GUARANTEE they're all worth downloading, and for each artist featured, there are many more songs to check out. Don't get bogged down by the sheer volume of artists though - each one is different from the rest, so variety is the spice of this playlist:

1. "Also Frightened" - Animal Collective (1/20/09) the follow-up to my 2007 favorite song, "Ponytail" by Animal Collective member, Panda Bear

2. "Another Term For" - Miwon (11/7/08) say what you will about the vocals - you're talking to a guy who likes Björk and Lykke Li; also the music sounds like old ambient Aphex Twin

3. "An Army of Watt" - T. Raumschmiere (11/12/05) takes me back to Gone in 60 Seconds

4. "Big Weekend" - Lemonade (11/7/08) old school house sound with vocals that fall somewhere between Madchester's Shaun Ryder and Perry Farrell, the latter who incidentally has appeared recently on both the Twilight and Underworld: Rise of the Lycans soundtracks

5. "Chain" - School of Seven Bells (10/28/08) for the Cocteau Twins comparisons, which I don't know if I agree with

6. "Granada" - Emilio de Benito (8/12/08) my favorite song of 2008, from the Vicky Cristina Barcelona soundtrack

7. "Kiss Them for Me" - Siouxsie & the Banshees (6/11/91) I didn't realize that was them before; like The Stone Roses meets One Dove

8. "Mars" - Fake Blood (6/8/08) when deciding which songs to use my gift card for, my wife chose this one over some others for being "the funkiest"

9. "Meet Your Master (The Faint Remix)" - Nine Inch Nails (11/20/07) love that chopped-up, stuttering beat and the fax machine squelching sound

10. "Miwonovi (Afro-Beat)" - Susu Bilibi (7/6/08) accidental discovery, but afrobeat seems to be the word of the year

11. "New Hollywood Babylon" - Don Cavalli (3/25/08) reminds me of my other local favorite late night radio show, "The Swami Sound System" (on the same FM 94.9 as "Big Sonic Chill") which plays "primal punk, raw funk, scathing soul scorchers, lysergic psychedelic excursions, blown out reggae and dub" with lots of "feedback, tape hiss and reverb"

12. "No Excuses" - Air France (10/5/08) proving that there's better pop in Europe

13. "Paris Is Burning (Peaches Remix)" - Ladyhawke (9/20/08) you'd think I'd get into this new wave scenester, but only Peaches' edge makes it tolerable

14. "Pretty Please (feat. Cee-Lo)" - Estelle (3/28/08) I was excited when a second volume of the Sex and the City soundtrack was released, because the first one didn't have the song I was looking for; this isn't that song either, but it's actually better than the one I bought the soundtrack for

15. "Single Ladies" - Beyoncé (11/18/08) my guilty pleasure (even guiltier than the one above)

16. "Skunk Walk" - Michna (9/23/08) acid jazz for my coworkers

17. "Too Lost in You (Various Production Mix)" - Sugarbabes (7/14/08) the least hard-hitting song from its album; in other words, Various Production ain't easy listening

18. "Wake Up Call (Mark Ronson Mix feat. Mary J. Blige)" - Maroon 5 (12/9/08) recommended by my cousin

19. "Who's Gonna Care?" - CaUSE co-MOTION! (10/28/08) my HAPPIEST discovery since Vampire Weekend

20. "Yellow Lasers" - MC Frontalot (9/1/05) nerdcore rap all about Star Wars, but that's not why I got this song; I met this guy at Comic-Con and after listening to a few dozen of his most popular songs, this one had the best bassline

OUT TODAY ON DVD: HAPPY-GO-LUCKY